Robertson Stephens

In 1978, Sandy Robertson, Paul Stephens, Robert Colman, and Dean Woodman founded Robertson, Colman, Stephens & Woodman, a boutique investment bank in San Francisco with a keen focus on technology companies. This firm, later shortened to Robertson Stephens & Company, became one of the "Four Horsemen," a group of influential banks that financed the burgeoning tech industry in Silicon Valley. During the height of the internet boom, from 1999 to 2000, the firm was a dominant force, underwriting 74 IPOs valued at a total of $5.5 billion for companies like E-Trade and Mapquest. The late 1990s brought a series of ownership changes. In 1997, the partners sold the firm to BankAmerica for $540 million. Just a year later, following BankAmerica's merger with NationsBank—the parent of a rival firm—Robertson Stephens was sold again, this time to BankBoston for $800 million. However, the dot-com bubble's collapse at the turn of the millennium hit the firm hard. After posting a significant loss in 2001, its parent company, FleetBoston, shut down the investment bank in July 2002. Sixteen years later, in January 2018, the Robertson Stephens name was revived. With backing from private equity firm Long Arc Capital, the firm relaunched as Robertson Stephens Wealth Management. This new entity carries on the legacy of its predecessor but with a modern focus on wealth management and advisory services. Through a series of acquisitions, the firm has been steadily growing, reporting over $7.1 billion in client assets by the end of 2024.